Friday, September 10, 2010

And there was a lady there with two little adorable boys. But one of the boys had the most unfortunate name I have ever heard*. And the mom kept saying it in an annoying voice over and over again, making it even worse. It was like hearing a tiger run his claws down a chalkboard.

She said his name so many times that my kids started saying it, thinking it was funny.

It wasn't.

Moral to the story: Even if you really like a name, if it makes other people wince in pain, maybe you want rethink it.

*I'm not telling you what it is because it's very distinctive and if I tell you, I just know someone will say, "Oh, yeah, that's my cousin's kid."

Sunday, September 05, 2010

We did great at the wedding! Somewhere there is a professional photographer with awesome pictures. But until then, this will have to do. But these kids acted good and smiled pretty. And it only took the promise of a new dvd, a new toy race car and some pretend makeup to make it happen. How's that for bribery? Er, uh, "Positive Reinforcement."

Friday, September 03, 2010

Tomorrow, my sister in law and I are hosting (hostessing?) a breakfast for our new sister in law. When I got married, someone gave me a beautiful luncheon the day before and I felt a strong need to pay that forward. Luckily my mom is arriving this morning so she can do fun things like iron table clothes and cook breakfast casseroles. Yay for moms!

Yesterday I went and bought a ton of food for said breakfast. While I was shopping, I told the kids they could pick out something small to get if they were good. So they did. I'm embarrassed to tell you what it is because I swore my kids would never wear these but they rhyme with Hilly Randz (hangs head in shame). But whatever, that's what they picked and it was $2. When we got to the register those dang bands, bracelets, whatever they are, would not stinkin scan. The poor gentleman working was so frustrated. The line behind me was SO LONG and I felt really bad. I apologized to the man behind me. I said I would just put the dang bands back but I had already promised my kids they could have them. He was very kind and said he remembered those days of bribing your kids so I shouldn't feel bad. It ended up taking almost 8 MINUTES to them to scan and in the end, we just rang up something else I had bought that was the same price. And would you believe that my kids haven't even mentioned them since we got home yesterday? Lesson learned: Don't buy silly bandz.

Another lesson learned: When you buy expensive orange juice for a bridal breakfast put a note on the container that says, "IF YOU DRINK THIS, I WILL SHAVE YOUR EYEBROWS OFF IN YOUR SLEEP!" or something along those lines. Because if you don't, you will wake up in the morning and your husband will have drank half the carton. And you will have to go buy more juice.

Wish us luck this weekend! My kids are in the wedding and, seriously, there is no telling what Kendall will do. I told them they could get a new movie if they did good. (NOTE TO SELF: STOP BRIBING KIDS.)

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

In case you don't remember, I gave up sweets for the month of August and today is September 1st. And I did it. The whole month. No sweets.

First of all, I want to say this: People say to me, "Oh that's crazy, I could NEVER do that!" But here's the thing, no one ate more sweets than me. NO ONE. Seriously, ask my friends and husband. And that's why I wanted to challenge myself with this.

At the beginning of the month, my brother in law asked me what I was hoping to get out of this experience and at the time I really didn't know. It took the month for me to figure that out. I realized how much I use sweets as a crutch. Have a difficult day? Eat a brownie. Kids act bad? Make some cookies. And eat them. Mad about work? Get a snickers bar.

A month ago, even two weeks ago, I assumed that on September 1st, I would be running to the nearest Starbucks to get a huge mocha and a brownie. But now that it's here, I just don't want any sweets. In a discussion with a friend last night, I said that was an odd feeling and something I wasn't familiar with but there it is. We decided to not lose momentum and ...... wait for it......keep going.

I'm going to give myself the weekend because my brother in law is getting married and I'm going to be having myself some cake. And I'm doing a bridal breakfast for my future sister in law and I hired someone to make cinnamon rolls so I'm eating one of those. But other than that, sweets will now be reserved for very special occasions. My taste buds, but most importantly my mindset, have been changed.